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1.3.6-Doeskin-pantaloons
Brick!Club 1.3.6: A Chapter in which they adore Each Other Or, In Which there are Glove-Fritters So, Glove-Fritters aside (and seriously, WTF? Tell me this is a French pun that I missed. Somebody. Please), this chapter mostly has going for it a very stark juxtaposition between title and actual occurrance. I suppose there is adoration going around, but I wouldn’t characterise it as ‘they adore each other’ so much as ‘Blachevelle adores himself, and Favourite checks out that bloke next door’. Which leads me to wonder what Hugo was thinking when he chose that title. The irony almost seems so obvious as to not be the case. So my latest theory is that he was writing along, came up with the chapter title, and then wrote this chapter, and at the end of it was like, “Well, that didn’t turn out quite as adoring as I hoped,” and never got round to fixing his shit up. What I’m actually far more interested in is the Brick!Club reaction to Favourite. Apparently, witht the departure of Baptistine, Favourite is our new favourite lady. (Oh God, pun so not intended I’m really sorry that that happened guys.) I guess I like that she’s so very aware of her situation, and that - unlike some people I could name - she’s not hopelessly naive, or being manipulated in a way that would make us all cringe. But on the other hand - her relationship with Blachevelle hardly screams that she’s a great girl. She’s willing to be with a horrible guy for the money. She panders to his arrogance in order to keep him around to sponge off him while she checks out the guy next door. She’s also quite judgemental of Fantine, simply because she’s less comfortable with the kind of life-style that these women have landed themselves in. I’m not saying I dislike Favourite. She’s the best character gong round right now. I’m just wondering - and we latching onto her simply because we need some sort of character to latch onto while we deal with the horror that is the year 1817? Are we latching onto her just because we want a female character, and there aren’t exactly many to choose from? What’s the deal here? Commentary Kingedmundsroyalmurder Re: glove fritters. I dunno. If it is a French pun/cultural reference it’s one that went over my head. I mostly interpreted the line as being in the vein of ‘I would climb Everest for you/never wash the hand you kissed/take a grenaaaaade for youuuuuu’ etc. Promises of over the top actions designed to prove one’s devotion. Re: Favourite, I like her for a couple reasons. First off, as you said, there’s the fact that I have lost Baptistine and Magloire and I want someone else sensible to latch onto. Favourite is quite sensible it looks like and she’s well aware of what’s going on and the game she’s playing. Which is the other reason I like her. I love that love and sex are not ~serious business~ to her. It’s fun. And she gets something from it. Yes, she’s in it for the money. I don’t see anything wrong with that. I assume that Blachevelle isn’t any more invested in the relationship than she is, so it’s not like she’s taking advantage of him like Tholomyes is Fantine. And yes, she lies when she says she loves him, but again I think he might on some level know that? Because their relationship looks like both a game and a contract. They both have parts to play and lines to deliver (her saying she loves him and over the top speech of revenge, his carrying her scarf and buying her things) and they both know the score. If she were actually cheating on him with the guy across the street it would be kind of problematic, since I suspect polyamory is not built into their contract, but she’s just looking right now as far as I can tell. Basically I like Favourite because her relationship is a business contract and I really love portrayals of those kinds of situations. (Obviously only ones where it’s voluntary. There’s a huge difference between Favourite being with Blachevelle for money here and Fantine being forced to prostitute herself for cash later. Favourite has agency and choice. Fantine doesn’t.) I’m not sure how much Hugo wants us to condemn her (I assume a fair amount, since she’s being used as a foil for Fantine and we’re supposed to love Fantine) but coming at this from the perspective of a girl in the 21st century with highly nontraditional opinions about marriage, sex, and relationships, I love it. (Also because she’s sensible. Being sensible is a fairly easy way to make me love you.) Pilferingapples I have honestly been enjoying Favorite and her snarky self. She and Blacheville seem like they’re both playing a game that they know they’re playing, and having fun. It may not be a LOVING relationship, or even a friendly relationship, but it’s…playful? and as close to friendly as we’re gonna get for a long, long time. And especially her little exchange with Dahlia here makes her seem like she’s actually social with her friends? But Fantine is not really part of that group- she’s the odd one out with the other women and her own lover and the world in general, and oh, it’s sad already. If we were dealing with an adaptation, I think Favourite’s character could be massively altered by how the performer delivered her lines. Is this whole sequence said cheerfully and openly? With venom? Boredom? I don’t think we’ve had a character who could be such a cipher before. But the !club in general seems ready to come down on the side of ANY FEMALE CHARACTER WE CAN EVEN KIND OF LIKE, so good news for Favorite there. (Honestly I’d forgotten just how much snap Favorite had, and I’m glad to see it. You know, before we all get our hearts rebroken starting about NOW.)